Feb. 25, 1983: Jeanine Nicarico, 10, is dragged from her house, sexually assaulted and killed. Her body is found two days later near the Illinois Prairie Path.

March 9, 1984: Three men, Rolando Cruz of Wheaton and Alejandro Hernandez and Stephen Buckley, both of Aurora, are indicted for the murder by DuPage County State's Attorney J. Michael Fitzsimmons. Two successors, Jim Ryan and Anthony Peccarelli, would continue the prosecution for years.

Feb. 22, 1985: Cruz and Hernandez are convicted. Buckley's trial ends in a hung jury, and prosecutors later decide not to pursue the case. Shortly later, Cruz and Hernandez sentenced to death penalty.

June 2: Melissa Ackerman, 7, of Somonauk, is raped and killed. Her body is found June 17 in a drainage ditch.

June 3: Brian Dugan, of Aurora, arrested for several unrelated attacks. He is charged June 25 with the Ackerman murder; also a suspect in Schnorr's death.

Nov. 8: Dugan's public defender tells LaSalle County prosecutors his client may have connection to Schnorr and Nicarico murders. Dugan says he'll only confess to having killed Jeanine if promised his life will be spared. Prosecutors, who deem some of his statements unreliable, refuse to bargain.

Nov. 19: Dugan gets two life sentences after pleading guilty to Ackerman and Schnorr murders.

Dec. 19: Gov. George Ryan pardons Cruz, weeks before granting blanket clemency to all of Illinois' death row inmates. Earlier, Birkett had released new forensic DNA results that conclusively show Dugan, not Cruz, as Jeanine's rapist. Ryan highlights the Nicarico case as an example of why the state's judicial system is broken.

Nov. 29, 2005: Grand jury indicts Brian Dugan in Jeanine's murder.

Jan. 18, 2006: Dugan pleads innocent when arraigned during his first court appearance.